The works in this exhibition are from three series of my drawings, Requiem, Traces and Odes. Requiem is a study of the dynamics of order and chaos. The rhythmic pattern in each drawing is restrained by a simple structure. This can be a grid, a line or a dot. Without a structure the system is not sustainable, and without freedom it cannot thrive. Look closely at each drawing and you’ll see myriad of haphazard elements. Step back and a resolved serenity appears.
I create the works in the second series Traces by blowing ink on paper. These are studies of chance and will. The inspiration for the series is best captured in the following poem by Gu Cheng:
Now on my heart's page
There is no grid to guide my hand,
No character to trace
Only the moisture
The ink blew dew
That has dripped from the leaves.
To spread it I can't use a pen.
I can't use a writing brush,
I can only use my life's
Gentlest breath
To make a line
Of marks worth puzzling over.
The process of making these drawings is akin to ”the search for that which cannot be found.” An image appears through a process of decisions and accidents. And just as in life where much depends on chance, it’s ultimately our decisions that give shape and meaning to this out of control process.
The third series, Odes, is a simple study of light and shadow, a most basic preoccupation of the artist as well as the moral being.
Altogether these works are explorations of basic dualisms, with which we grapple everyday, often with little awareness.
